370 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



recommend that all competitors, for the future, be more explicit 

 in making their statements. 



The increasing demand for milk, the rise in the value of land, 

 and the present liigli price of labor and produce, in the vicinity 

 of our cities and vinages,it would seem, ought to be a sufficient 

 inducement for farmers to pay more attention to the breed, 

 expense of keeping, and manner of milking their cows. 



They should be fed and milked regularly, and if practicable, 

 by the same person ; and when the number of cows requires 

 more than one milker, each person should invariably milk the 

 same, as a cow will yield her milk more readily and freely to 

 one with whom she is acquainted, if kindly treated, than to a 

 stranger. 



Yankee ingcniiity has invented almost every thing to save 

 labor, but whether a machine better than the hands will ever be 

 invented to draw milk from the udder of a cow, remains to be 

 seen. 



Probably, as a general rule, the most profitable age of a cow 

 is from six to twelve ; some, however, arrive at maturity and 

 decline at an earlier age than others. The writer of this report 

 once owned a small native that gave sixteen beer quarts per day 

 for several months, after having her second calf, and although 

 kept till twelve years old, she never exceeded that quantity. It 

 may not be improper, in this connection, to state that there is 

 now, in the west part of Milton, a cow in milk that was raised 

 and has always been owned by the same person, that was twen- 

 ty-three years old last March. 



Elijah Tucker, Chairman. 



